A prostitution scandal in China’s southern city of Dongguan that felled several senior officials last year moved further to closure this week when 46 people, including a former member of China’s national legislature, went on trial on charges linked to organising the city’s sex trade.

Liang Taohui, the so called “hotel king” of Dongguan, is the highest-profile official accused in the case. He is alleged to have arranged for prostitutes to meet clients at sauna rooms at a hotel he owns in Donguaun that has since been shut down. He pleaded not guilty to charges of prostitution and destroying evidence in court on Wednesday.

The trial focuses attention on a clean-up of vice under President Xi Jinping. Dongguan, a manufacturing centre in Guangdong, is known as “Sin City” because of its reputation for brothels, along with massage parlours, sauna houses and karaoke bars where sex services were also offered.